Weekly Bitumen Report: Fears and Hopes of Bitumen Price

Like the previous weeks, the last week was also replete with worries of the price drops in most of the markets, but on 2 April and by the increase of bitumen price by Bahrain up to 20 US dollars (Bulk FOB 495 US dollars) could maintain the market.

On the other hand, Singapore decreased its bitumen prices up to 535 US dollars several times but on 4 April, its bulk FOB price reached 540 US dollars, and the fuel of the same day was 808.830 US dollars and both of these elements were upward.

Also, in Iran, a large quantity of bulk bitumen was traded during the last week and its price jumped by about 460 US dollars per ton and its difference with Bahrain prices became 35 US dollars. Considering drumming and transportations costs, the prices of packed bitumen does not sound suitable for short destinations like India.

The political incidents in the market were still strongly affecting the market. In the seventh week of Russia- the Ukraine war and the evacuation of cities like Bujar in Ukraine by the Russia military, the worries of attacks to east and northeast of Ukraine, especially Kyiv, increased. At the same time, the European Union decided to impose stronger sanctions against oil, gas, and petrochemical products of Russia.

On Wednesday, the sanctions against coal and on Thursday, the sanctions against oil and gas were imposed. By imposing sanctions on Russia’s oil, gas, and petrochemicals, Russia will practically lose its market share while in 2021, Russia had sold more than 5 million metric tons of bitumen (around 1 billion dollars).

The number of buyers who can no longer buy Russian origin has increased. Infinity Galaxy will focus on this matter in its future reports in detail. As reported by Infinity Galaxy on Monday, the US decided to release the largest SPR in recent years to control the oil and gas prices. Such a decision led to the fall of crude oil prices around 6-7% in the global markets.

Also, the new variant of Corona in Shanghai of China,  its consequent lockdowns, and congestions in the Chinese ports was among the other factors of the price drop. On the other hand, the continuity of war in Ukraine and political conflicts such as dismissal of Pakistan Prime Minister stabilised crude oil price in the channel of 100 US dollars. At the time of preparing this report, the crude oil was at 102 US dollars.

By receiving the cargoes in Indian ports and expectations of fall of bitumen prices in the second half of April, most Indian traders are not determined to purchase bitumen. But such a situation does not seem to last if India does not change its bitumen price on 15 April.

The markets of east Asia and east Africa are expected to move forward.

The fear of fall of rates in some of the markets are serious and like in previous weeks, Infinity Galaxy suggests buyers to place orders wisely.

The status of nuclear negotiations and JCPOA is still vague and this situation is affecting the equity of US dollar against Iran Rial.

This article was prepared by Razieh Gilani, the sales manager of Infinity Galaxy (www.infinitygalaxy.org).